


Take it Off

by enbysaurus_rex



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Katsuki Yuuri, binding fic, unsafe binding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 16:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11384301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbysaurus_rex/pseuds/enbysaurus_rex
Summary: Yuri is a trans masculine person who decides to bind with tape even though they knows better. Victor finds out.





	Take it Off

**Author's Note:**

> There are some really detailed descriptions of Yuri's boobs and binding injuries, so proceed (or not) accordingly. They don't go to the hospital, but they probably should. This is not beta'd, so if you notiece any mistakes let me know!!!

Yuri stared at the roll of tape in their hand. They knew better. They really did. But it was just a rest day, it couldn’t be that bad. And to not have boobs…

They made their decision and began wrapping their breasts with the extra roll of athletic tape they had lying around, trying to keep it loose to minimize the damage. Yuri started at the top of their chest and began working their way down. 

It was harder than they expected, and it kept getting wrinkled, even though Yuri would have sworn they were being tremendously careful. Every time they had to pass it around their back, the tape got twisted, but eventually they finished and checked out their handiwork.

It looked so. Much. better. Despite the tightness of the tape, they finally felt like they could breathe. 

Yuri cheerfully pulled a shirt on over the tape and looked in the mirror, expecting to see a gloriously flat chest.

Instead, they saw wrinkles.

Fuck.

Turning back and forth, they tried to figure out if someone else was going to notice. The answer was an unequivocal yes. 

So off the shirt came, and the tape, too. 

Peeling it off was...not as bad as they thought it would be. It hurt, don’t get them wrong, but it didn’t tear off any skin, it just burned like a giant bandaid. They could definitely do this on the regular. The thought lifted a metaphorical weight from their chest.

Encouraged, they rewrapped their chest, this time taking even more care with the wrinkles and wrapping it even tighter, because the last time hadn’t really hurt.

When they finished, the result was passable and they almost cried from relief. They grabbed their bag, emboldened, but extraordinarily conscious of the tight, rough pressure beneath their shirt.

\----

Yuri climbed out of the car and took an experimental deep breath. They could feel the tape tighten, dig into their ribs, and maybe give a little. They could do this all day. And planned on it.

That day was a pretty normal day. There was stretching, of course, and the tape pulled uncomfortably, but it was worth every bit of it to look down while their leg was against a wall and see a flat chest. The pressure against their chest, while not comfortable, served as a constant reassurance that they looked masculine.

There was also laundry, some cleaning, and more stretches. A short jog made Yuri’s ribs light up in a way that couldn’t be good, and so they didn’t go for the run they had planned on. 

Yuri’s ribs hurt enough they couldn’t, at least in good conscience, ignore it anymore, so they closed the door and began unwrapping the (slightly sweaty, lint covered, and now uncomfortably tight) tape.

Yuri got a bit of a nasty shock as the tape did not come off anywhere near as easily as it had that morning. 

Shit.

This was going to take a while.

They found the end, and began trying to unwind it. It was worst under the arms, but they soldiered through. By the time they got through two or three circuits of their ribs, they were starting to feel pretty confident. It wasn’t so bad. 

The worst was yet to come. 

Once they reached their actual breasts, it became significantly more painful, and tears were in their eyes before they finally had removed all the tape.

A quick visual examination of their breasts showed that the tape was indeed wrinkled, and now so were their boobs. Just what they needed. Also, they were a little surprised by how grateful they were for the ability to breathe deeply.

But their boobs were back, and so on came the flannel and they did their best to ignore how wonderful having a body that felt like it fit had been for once.

\----

The next day, Yuri and Victor planned a light workout, even though they had the ring to themselves. 

Yuri showed up, already in the shirt they wanted to wear for the workout so that Victor wouldn’t see the tape. That wouldn’t go well.

Putting on the tape that morning hadn't been as relieving as it had been the previous few days. It was ruined it part by the knowledge that they were going to hurt, and also by the sheer tediousness of putting on the tape. 

The two skaters changed into the rest of their workout clothes for the day, and while he was tying a skate, Victor observed, “You look very masculine today, Yuri.”

Yuri tensed, and Victor bent his neck at an awkward angle to look at his partner. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you…”

Yuri shrugged, and tried to relax the muscles that had tensed. Victor probably didn’t know about trans masc things. “Nah it’s chill. That’s just what happens when you make some wardrobe changes.”

Victor smiled, excited for his partner. “I'm so happy for you!!!”

“Thanks!” Yuri pulled their laces tight, and tried to focus on the mundane task. They felt bad about lying, but…

The two of them went out onto the ice, and began their warm ups. 

This was much much harder than Yuri had expected. He barely made it through his warmups before he asked for a water break, and Victor looked slightly worried. “Your stamina is normally one of your best qualities. Are you hungover? Lazy? Have you put on weight again?” 

“Food poisoning,” Yuri invented, throwing back some water. “I think the meat was off last night.” Their ribs burned in protest. It felt like the tape had merged with their skin and was slowly constricting them. 

Yuri thought they had lied well, but Victor looked like he was thinking. “We didn't have meat last night.” He then turned his best coach eyes on Yuri. “Why are you trying to skip practice? We have a competition in two weeks, Yuri.” 

“I, uh...I...got injured.” 

“Why didn't you tell me? What happened? No more practice for today.” 

Yuri tried to make eye contact, but it was too much. “I...uh...weightlifting?” was his convincing answer. 

“We haven't weight lifted this week, yet,” Victor said, crouching down in front of Yuri. “What. Happened.” His fierce gaze, tinged with worry, burned. These were somewhere between strict coach and worried boyfriend.

Yuri’s heart was beating way faster than it should have been and they had started to breathe heavily, but they couldn't get deep breaths, they began to panic. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to, it just helps so much and...it’s...not too bad…”

Victor knew what an anxiety attack sounded like, and so began “In deep and quick through your nose, out nice and slow, in deep and quick… good job. I need you to breathe with me, bud. You gotta breathe in. Take a deep breath.”

Yuri was now on his side and hyperventilating. “I can't...breathe.”

“I know, bud,” Victor soothed. “You can do it. In deep and quick…”

Yuri was about ready to commit murder. They couldn't breathe, otherwise none of this would be a problem. But they couldn't say anything, so they shook and took painfully deep breaths until, finally, they were able to talk.

“I'm okay,” Yuri told their boyfriend, still shaking and on the bench. “Thanks.”

Victor gave him a look, but only asked, “Can you uncurl?”

Yuri, still focusing on breathing, stretched out one leg at a time, holding their ribs as they shifted. Victor noticed, but said nothing until Yuri was sitting up.

“What do you need right now?” 

Yuri flushed and looked away, and they had to remember to regulate their breathing. What did they need? None of this to have happened. But since that wasn't an option, they had to fix the problem. First, they had to get the tape off. Everything else was bonus. Shit. First they had to tell Victor.

“I need to...what do you...how do you feel about...trans stuff?”

Victor took a face journey that started at confused, detoured through nervous, and stopped roughly at thoughtful. “I know that you're trans,” Victor said, running his fingers through his hair. “And I know that not a lot of people know. And I know you haven't had everything done, but your hormones match, so that's all the federation cares about. What specifically?”

“Chest binding,” Yuri said awkwardly, doing the trans slouch subconsciously. “People with...with breasts don't always like them. I'll do anything to get rid of mine for a little while. And so...we...I...wear things so tight that...we get injuries.”

Victor wasn't quite sure what to say or how to feel. “So what do you need right now?”

“I need to get it off,” they said tiredly. “and I just…”

Yuri buried their face in their boyfriend’s shoulder, but didn’t say anything. he held them tight, careful not to squeeze their ribs. 

“Come on. Let's get that thing off.” Despite the wording, Victor didn’t loosen his hold on Yuri until they let go. 

“Do you want my help or do you wanna take it off yourself?”

Yuri flushed a deep red. “uhh...i think I got it. But do you care if I wear your sweatshirt? Yours is bigger.”

Victor waved a negligent hand. “Go for it. Thanks for taking care of yourself, Yuri “ Although the words themselves were unremarkable, he said them with such sincerity that Yuri teared up.

Not knowing what to say, Yuri hugged him and rooted around for a sweatshirt and one of their sports bras.

When they came out, they were on a tremendous amount of pain, and their chest felt sticky and raw and sore and awful. 

And it wasn't flat anymore.

The sweatshirt covered almost everything,of course, but that didn't mean Yuri wasn't filled with a ridiculous number of conflicting emotions, especially since they had been binding for two days and their sports bra was hideously uncomfortable.

The ridiculous amount of tape was balled up under their arm, and Yuri just prayed they didn't run into anyone else.

They made it back to Victor’s room without incident, and threw the tape in the corner before laying facedown on the bench and pulling their skate up behind them so they at least could say the were stretching.

Victor hesitated. On one hand, he wanted to let them be, but on the other- “D’you want to buy an actual binder?” 

Yuri tried to shake their head, but it didn't work with the bench in the way, so they sat up. “I'm good, thanks, though.”

Victor sat on the floor with their phone. “Yuri, if they bother you that much, get a binder. It's safer than the tape and you'll be happier.”

Yuri tried to come up with a reason why they didn't need one and gave up. he was right. “Thanks.”

Victor kissed them on the forehead. “Love you. Now what color d'you want?”

Yuri looked at the options and hazarded, “Gray?” 

Victor clicked the link and saw the sizes. “Oh no. We have to measure them...”

Yuri sighed. “Whatever. Let's get this over with. D'you have anything we can measure with?”

Victor hunted down a measuring tape from his bag (it was ridiculous how many times he had needed it last season) and asked, “D’you think we can use this?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Yuri stood there uncomfortably while Victor unrolled the tape measure

Victor noticed how uncomfortable they was and asked, “Do you want me to help you measure or do you want to do it by yourself?”

Yuri made a face again, but began pulling the sweatshirt off their muscled frame. “Could you help? I’m awful at this kind of thing, and I'm really really sorry!!!.”

Victor rolled his eyes and pointed out, “I’m not much better,” but pulled up the measuring guide on the GC2B website.

“Alright, so…” Victor skimmed through the guide and let Yuri read over his shoulder. “Above the beginning of your breast tissue and below your armpits.”

Yuri, who had turned a light pink, put their arms up so Victor could wrap the yarn around their chest. They knew full well what Victor was going to think of the state their chest was in.

“I...I’m sorry about this whole…” Yuri gestured to include the situation. “I just…”

Victor held the measuring tape in place but kissed their lips gently before saying, “I’m not mad. I just want you to be healthy and skate well. And that,” he said, indicating the current state of their breasts with their chin. “Doesn’t qualify.”

Yuri hugged Victor tight, even though his clothes did not at all feel good on their raw chest. “I love you.”

Victor gave up on the yarn and hugged them back. “I love you too.”

They both stood there, head on the other person’s shoulder, for a while, until Yuri pulled away. And then went back in for another hug. 

Victor laughed a little. 

Yuri rolled their eyes and let go of Victor, “I can’t believe you put up with me.”

“Well, you put up with me,” Victor pointed out nonchalantly, although he understood that Yuri was being 100% serious. “So I think it works out.” he began wrapping the tape measure around Yuri’s chest, and then checked the measuring guide again. 

Victor laughed a little and then read, “‘We know ya look good, but try not flex or tense up when you are measuring. Make sure you are relaxed and breathing normally for the most accurate and natural reading.’”

“Fuck you,” Yuri tried to stop laughing. 

“After this,” Victor promised with a shit-eating grin. “But let’s get you a binder first.”

“You’re so cheesy,” Yuri complained. 

“Yes,” Victor acknowledged, and the rest of the measuring finished up pretty quickly. “Alright, so do you remember your chest size?”

“Yeah, wasn’t it like, 32?” Yuri looked at the chart and made a face. “And my shoulders are a 13, too. I’ll get an extra small, then.”

“No,, you’re supposed to round up.”

Yuri stuck out their tongue at him. “Alright, so I guess I’m getting a small gray half-binder?”

“Very nice,” Victor chose the right size and shoved it in the cart. “Do you want to get it shipped to my house?”

“Yeah, that’d be a good plan.”

After filling out the rest of the information, Victor typed in his card number, and Yuri protested. “Come on, it’s my binder!”

“Valentine’s Day is soon,” Victor responded with a grin. “and besides, it's in my best interest for you to breathe and skate well.”

“You are the worst.”

Victor hit ‘submit order’. “Yup, and I love you!” he draped herself dramatically over Yuri’s lap.

“You’re unbelievable,” they said, but they were smiling.

\----

Yuri pulled into the driveway and decided that sprinting into the the house was the exact opposite of cool. They could walk in. Calmly. Say hi. Not bolt upstairs. 

So in that spirit, they put their warm up jacket off and left it in the passenger seat, and then climbed out of the car.

No one was in the living room, so they gave up on pretending to be patient and took the stairs two at a time to Victor’s room. 

The door was open, so Yuri shut it behind them and said, “Hey there!”

Victor grinned. “Guess what I have,” he said in a sing-song voice.

Yuri took off their (sweaty) t-shirt and asked, a little shyly, “Is it here?”

Victor chucked a piece of cloth that looked a bit small at them. “Yup!”

Yuri turned it around, examining it, and asked, “D’you know which way is front?”

Victor shrugged, “Nope! Does it matter?”

Yuri thought they had found the front and pulled it on. “Damn, this thing is tight,” they said, although it didn’t take them too long to get it untangled. Except now it was abundantly clear it was on backwards. 

“Oh..” they said. 

Victor was obviously worried and Yuri waved a hand, “Nah, I got it on, so I can get it off. It’s not a big deal.”

“I don’t know...that looks really tight…”

Yuri grabbed the bottom of the binder and tried to wriggle out of it. Shit. They were stuck. Ummm…. 

They tried a couple more times, and Victor got up to hover. “Do you think if i pull the back up…?”

“Can you try?” Yuri was a little more freaked out than they would like to have been.

“Mhm.”

Between the two of them, they eventually managed to get Yuri out of it, and into the binder the correct way. 

Victor saw the scars from Yuri’s unfortunate experiment with tape, but said nothing. It should never happen again.

Yuri looked down at their boobs and beat back the slight disappointment. Tape had made them flatter. But this was so much better than normal. 

Yuri scooped Victor up in a bear hug, and Victor laughed. “Now they look like pecs. Damn you look masculine!”

They set Victor down and kissed them deeply. “Thank you so so so much!”

“You’re so very very welcome,” he said, grinning. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

\----

**Author's Note:**

> So in case you're thinking about binding with anything but a real binder from a good company, please don't. All the experiences from this fic, with some minor differences, are my own. Stay safe, kids


End file.
